Levi self-identifies as an Urban Griot (the griot being the traditional consciousness raiser, storyteller, newscaster and political agitator).
Alhaji Bai Konte (born 1920; died 1983) was a jali (praise singer) from Brikama, Gambia.
Dan Maraya Jos (born Adamu Wayya in 1946) is a Nigerian Hausa Griot best known for playing the kontigi.
In recent years, Djelimady has performed in an acoustic trio called Bajourou, accompanied by another masterful griot guitarist, Bouba Sacko, and by singer Lafia Diabate, a veteran of the Rail Band.
He is noted for introducing the story of Sundiata to the Western world in 1960 by translating the story told to him by Djeli Mamoudou Kouyate, a griot or traditional oral historian.
Originally started in 1972, Griot Galaxy settled into its most stable line-up around 1980, when Bey was joined by saxophonists David McMurray and Anthony Holland, as well as bassist Jaribu Shahid and drummer Tani Tabbal.
The people would also gather in "kaiso" tents where a "Chantwell", Griot or lead singer would lead them in song, originally in a French creole.
He has also recorded music for Bellydance Superstars, Bellyqueen, and the Bellytwins, as well as mainstream artists like Alicia Keys, and The Urban Griot Project.
Tales of Amadou Koumba or Les Contes d'Amadou Koumba is a collection of tales from Senegal, transcribed by Birago Diop from the accounts of the griot Amadou, son of Kumba
She comes from a family of griots: her father, Djeli Baba Sissoko (not to be confused with the younger musician Baba Sissoko), was a griot and her aunt, Fanta Damba, is also considered a top vocalist.
Born in 1938 in Kita, Massa Makan Diabaté was the descendant of a long line of West African poets (griots).
The original frontmen of the band were the Casamance singers Balla Sidibe and Rudy Gomis who came from the melting pot of Casamance musical styles, and most famously Laye Mboup (killed in a 1974 car accident) who provided vocals in the Wolof griot style.
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Organized in 1970, as a multi-ethnic, multi-national club band, Orchestre Baobab adapted the then current craze for Cuban Music (growing out of the Congolese Soukous style) in West Africa to Wolof Griot culture and the Mandinga musical traditions of the Casamance.
From early on the band featured electric guitar, electric organ, saxophone, horns, and a western drum kit alongside Mande music using kora, balafon, Ngoni, talking drums, Islamic-style, Mande hunter co-fraternity song, and Griot praise-singing vocals .
Tales of Amadou Koumba or Les Contes d'Amadou Koumba is a collection of tales from Senegal, transcribed by Birago Diop from the accounts of the griot Amadou, son of Kumba.
A Groovy Griot Film In Association with 57th & Irving Productions, the film was executive produced by Edward Tyler Nahem, Jennifer Millstone, Patrick Morris, Jack Turner, Kathryn Tucker, and Miklos C.Vasarhelyi, and co-produced by Sarah Price, Gwyn Welles, Scott Duncan, and Hugo Berkeley.